Desert Cloudburst Causes Power Outages and Flash-Flooding
A midday desert cloudburst Wednesday caused flash-flooding, cut off power and prompted numerous road closures in the Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree areas of San Bernardino County, California Division of Forestry firefighters said.
Seventeen houses were flooded and several motorists were forced to abandon their cars in intersections flooded by the sudden rainstorm.
A total of 4,325 customers were without power for more than an hour because of down lines and blown transformers, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co. said.
Portions of the storm also blew through Twentynine Palms, Needles and the Big Bear area, but there were no reports of damage.
In Yucca Valley, rescue workers freed one motorist whose car was immersed in water up to its windshield, firefighter Dave Hardy said.
It was the second day of storms this week in the desert areas.
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